Teen Titans: The Good And The Dead
by idea outlet
Summary: The Titans struggle with the morality of their actions while in the background, Slade waits to strike. Art by kaitmayne on Deviantart.
1. Chapter 1: Plans

Rated M for violence, language, and whatever else I throw in there.

* * *

"Ahh, Doctor Conner. You are awake. Good."

Sally Conner awoke to a disorienting pitch black. Piercing through it, a voice spoke evenly.

"Doctor, I want to ask you a question. Have you ever wondered what would happen if one were to shoot a bullet into the top of the kneecap, aiming through the bottom of the heel?" said the voice in a calm, calculating tone.

Sally squealed as the realization began to dawn on her that she may die, horribly and painfully.

"I hypothesis that, with the calibre of weapon I am accustomed to, it will tear its way through the leg, out of the heel, and hit the floor. However, I am unsure about the ricochet. Will it bounce back up through the foot? Would the leg tissue have slowed it enough to prevent any bounce off the floor?" The voice's tone did not change.

Crying, Sally whimpered out the words, "P-please don't h-hurt me!"

A sigh of seeming exacerbation came from the voice, "I am sorry to say this, Sally, but I very much wish to hurt you. I have only tested this hypothesis twice. The first time, the woman was in a wheel chair, meaning the tissue was far too decayed for it to be a real test, and the second man was much too heavy for the test to be performed properly. I ended up using a gun of too high calibre and simply blew the leg off."

Sally's sobs became more intense as the voice spoke the words in a tone as menacing as an algebra teacher.

"However," said the voice in dry satisfaction, "I can be persuaded to test my hypothesis at a different time, on a different person."

"I'll-I'll give you anything you want! Please!" Sally half-screamed as she closed her eyes, preferring the familiar dark to the hostile one all around her.

"Oh Sally," the voice said in mocking concern, "It is not what you can give to me, but what you will take."

Sally slowed her breathing as she prepared for whatever came next.

"In one day's time, you will receive a package. That package has 15 pills in it. You will take 1 a week for 10 weeks. The 5 extra are in case you lose one. Do what you will with the extra if you have any when you are done. If you fail to take the pills, you die. If you tell anyone about the little talk we're having, you die. If you lose more than 5 pills, I will shoot you through the kneecaps and elbows for incompetence and watch as you bleed out. If you try to run, we will follow you. If you attempt any form of technicalities involving the rules, you will die. Understood?"

Several moments were passed filled only by darkness and stifled sobs.

"Sally, speak when you are being spoken to," said the voice in an almost fatherly fashion.

"I," Sally whimpered out, "I understand."

"Good. Oh and, a letter will be sent to you after the 10 weeks. You may do with it what you wish," said the voice as sounds of movement began to fill the darkness.

"Wha—"

Sally was unconscious before she could utter another syllable. In a few hours' time, she would awake at home in her bed with a bad migraine.

Slade smiled under his mask.

* * *

Robin lashed out at his target with the force of ten grown men. The thud of his fists turning what was once solid into something less always gave him a rush. Soon, the punching bag he was training on ripped in half to reveal broken dust of what used to be solid granite.

Barely breathing any heavier than he was before, Robin allowed the automated system Cyborg had set up to spew out another target. This time, he would aim to be precise, striking only where the kidney and lesser organs would be.

The sudden sounding of an alarm interrupted Robin's training. He rushed off to the briefing room to find out what was going on.

"Robin!" a deep voice called from the approaching room as he entered it.

"What's going on?" Robin said as he mentally prepared for a fight.

"Cinderblock is at it again," Cyborg said.

"You think he's working for Slade again?" Robin asked, half excited and half apprehensive.

Cyborg smiled and replied, "Only one way to find out!"

Robin thought of punching through bricks and smiled as he left the tower.

* * *

_This will be a slightly darker take on the Titans. Trying to improve my writing skills on here, so feel free to knit-pick the fuck out of it._


	2. Chapter 2: Judges

"Raven! Heads up!" shouted Beast Boy as a cement mixer in the warehouse they were in nearly collapsed on her.

Raven caught the debris with her telekinesis along with several other objects she began to redirect towards Cinderblock.

"AHHHHHHH," cried the sentient rock as it took every blow, feeling very little of it, but somehow knowing it should to hurt.

Robin slammed the metal bar that was his chosen weapon into Cinderblock, only to find that the blow which normally knocked the monster back barely phased it now.

"GWAAH," Cinderblock cried as he slammed his fists into the ground where Robin had just been.

"You remember Cinderblock being this strong?" asked Cyborg as he and Starfire both peppered the monster with blasts to no avail.

"No. But since he's improved so much, we shouldn't disappoint him!" Robin smiled as he ran back into the fray.

Running faster than most Olympic athletes, Robin threw a small bomb, normally meant for getting passed locked doors onto Cinderblocks face. Sliding between the giant's legs, he threw another which stuck to the back of its head.

"Starfire! Cyborg! Hit him from both sides!" Robin cried as he took a hit from Cinderblock that sent him flying into a pile of broken machines and rusted metal.

Acting quick, Cyborg and Starfire stood on opposite sides of the rock monster and shot their blasts of energy at the small bombs on his head. With a satisfying _boom_, the bombs left the creature headless.

"Woah," Beast Boy said to himself as he changed back from the hawk he had been.

Starefire rushed towards Robin without looking at Cinderblock's remains.

"Robin!"

* * *

Regaining consciousness, Robin first saw Starfire standing over him. Slowly, the others materialized and he felt himself waking up.

"Woah, take it easy! You've got a concussion and you nearly broke your wrist," Cyborg said as his friend sat up suddenly.

"Where's Cinderblock?" Robin asked, looking around and seeing only a few factory workers cleaning up the aftermath.

"Cops came in and scooped up what's left of him," Cyborg said, eyeing Robin intensely with his human eye.

Robin thought for a second, "You mean we—"

Cyborg shook his head.

Robin looked at each of his friends. Raven was unreadable, looking unchanged and unaffected by the event. Starefire floated a few inches above the ground, staring at Robin with a worry-stricken expression. Beast Boy shifted his eyes from place to place as sporadically as he could.

Cyborg asked him, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Robin said, "I just need to think for a second."

Robin never meant to kill him. It just happened. Sure, he was no stranger to death, but being such a direct cause of it, even on a monster, was unsettling.

"We find out what he was after?" Robin said, finally.

"Cops have been askin' the factory workers about that. We'll know when they know," Cyborg said.

"Dudes," Beast Boy said, "I can't believe that just happened. We killed him!"

As Beast Boy said this, tears formed in Starfire's eyes.

"Star!" Robin cried, suddenly jumping up and grabbing her in a tight embrace as tears fell from her eyes. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine. Your blasts were doing nothing until we added my explosives. I killed him."

She continued to cry, although less so as she said distantly, "As a child on Tamaran, I was taught never to take a life, even of those who are a great threat to you. To do so is to become the judge of what is most precious."

"And that's not what we are," Robin reassured her, "We're not judges or executioners. We just used too much force on him."

Robin then realized something, "Wait...no we didn't! Those explosives shouldn't have been big enough to do something like that. They're just for doors. Even combined with both of your blasts, it should have at most knocked him out cold."

"You're right," Cyborg said, running scenarios through his processor, "Plus Cinderblock was even stronger than before. How did he suddenly become weaker?"

"Maybe he had like a shell on his outside or something and on the inside it was all soft and stuff!" Beast Boy said excitedly.

"Or whatever he was doing to make himself stronger wore off," Raven added in.

"Either way," Robin said, "I doubt he could have done that to himself. So I guess we have to assume he was working for Slade, since not many other people have those kind of resources."

"Woah, dude, you sure? I mean, Doctor Light or Gizmo could both pull that off too," Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, but do they work with Cinderblock regularly?" Cyborg said.

Robin felt dizzy and sat down as he said, "But why would Slade take the effort to augment Cinderblock's strength like that when his structure suffered? He had to know he couldn't win."

"Maybe he didn't want to," Raven added, "It's not like we haven't beaten Cinderblock before."

Starefire, eyes still glossed over from crying, said, "Does this mean that Cinderblock was meant to distract us from some greater danger?"

"I don't know, Star," Robin said in a pensive voice as he sat on the ground, head aching.

* * *

Slade looked at the screen showing the Titans' fight from a security camera, judging every move they made.

"A surprising outcome, but still a successful test I suppose," he said in a calculating, metallic tone to himself as he sat in his thrown of steel.

Slade considered whether he should have kidnapped the doctor and taken her to his hideout to make her take the pills. It might have attracted more attention than he wanted, but it would have ensured she took the pills and at the very least give him someone to talk to and torture.

But things were going according to plan.

Pausing the video feed, Slade picked up a revolver and filled five chambers of the six. Spinning the cylinder that held the rounds, he pointed it at the paused screen of Titans. He fired the gun and hit Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starefire. Stopping, he aimed the gun at his own head and heard the click as the empty chamber gave way to nothing.

Pointing the last bullet at Robin, Slade fired, hitting the image in the head.

* * *

_thanks for the feedback twistedpremise! Loved your story Raven's Howl by the way. Will try to continue writing regularly._


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